New Memphis Food Blog The Fork Puts the Fun Back Into Giving

Memphis food writer John Minervini’s new food blog promotes local food with a lively and informative voice.

In the crowded world of food blogs, writer John Klyce Minervini is cutting through the clutter with charm, information, and philanthropy.

Think Memphis foodie with a big heart.

His new food blog called The Fork, which launched earlier this month, is personable and innovative, combing a farm-to-table focus with helping people. Minervini describes the blog as an “online dining portal” about where to eat, what to eat, and why to eat. The why matters most.

“We have all these restaurants and farmers and food products that are building a local food scene in Memphis that is accessible and amazing,” Minervini said. “Now we have to figure out how to connect that food to the people who need it.”

Food security for the city’s under-served neighborhoods is important to Minervini and a driving force behind The Fork’s promotions and musings.

“I wanted to bake food security into the site’s concept from the beginning,” said Minervini, an energetic freelancer whose numerous roles include producing documentaries for public radio station WKNO and writing the Food News column for the Memphis Flyer.

To that end, The Fork’s roll-out promotion called Hungry Holidays features local vendors and restaurants who donate a percentage of sales for specific beers, products, or dishes to the Urban Bicycle Food Ministry, a group who delivers food to several hundred homeless people twice a week. (And yes, they do it on bikes!)

“The minute I heard about the group, I knew I wanted to work with them,” Minervini said. “It was the perfect fit.”

To raise funds for the ministry, Minervini features a “bite or beer” from local restaurants and breweries every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday on The Fork. He promotes featured items, such as the soul-satisfying pot roast at The Farmer on Highland, through lively posts with fun chef interviews. For instance, who knew that Denny’s is the first place The Farmer’s Mac Edwards cooked professionally? Or that The Grove Grill’s Jeff Dunham makes Christmas ornaments with dried okra he grows himself?

Already, the impact from participating vendors is making a difference. Sales for Relevant Roasters coffee beans, The Fork’s first featured vendor, netted about $120 for the bicycle ministry, a significant help for a non-profit dependent on contributions.